9:00am (EST)
We always come up with a title for our updates before we write and we typed in the above headline at 6:22pm (EST) last night. Sometimes the titles stick, sometimes we have to make moderations just before we go to press. More on this in a minute.
The bulls cleared resistance on Tuesday in a rare election-day rally that looked strong all session long.
The Dow surged 133 points, or 1%, to end at 13,245. The blue-chips reached a peak of 13,290 and easily clear 13,200 while coming within 60 points of topping the next wave of resistance.
The S&P 500 added 11 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 1,428. The close above 1,425 was bullish and the index tripped 1,433 which happens to be the next hurdle before major resistance at 1,450.
The Nasdaq gained a dozen points, or 0.4%, to settle at 3,011. Tech traded to a high of 3,024.44 and held 3,000 but the bulls would have had a little more breathing room on a close above 3,025. Big Boy resistance is at 3,050 and then 3,100 while any dip below 3,000 will be watched heavily.
Of course, the aforementioned closes are all noise until we move out of the current 4-week trading range and that could happen this week.
We hate politics but here were our thoughts last night as we watched the Presidential race unfold and how stock market futures were reacting.
Romney needed to win Virginia and since it is our Home State, we had some confidence he could pull the upset because of what we were seeing and hearing in some of our sister cities. At 7:30pm, Romney had West Virginia in the books and he was leading Obama 24-3.
At 8:00pm, Barrack Obama took the lead 64-40 but Florida and Virginia were still undecided. Our Home State showed Romney up 59% to 40% but only 12% of the votes were in.
At 8:30pm, Romney was back on top 73-64 after taking Arkansas and Tennessee. Romney was up 56%-42% after 25% of the votes had been counted in Virginia. Obama was crushing Ohio but we didn’t feel like typing in those numbers.
At 9:15pm, Mitt was leading Colorado and was up 152-123. We took our first look at futures and they looked like this: Dow futures were down 53, S&P down 6; Nasdaq down 8.
At 10:00pm, Romney ‘s lead was 158-147 and was up 51%-47% with 64% of the votes in for Virginia. Romney was leading North Carolina and closing the gap in Colorado after Obama rebounded as well. Dow futures were down 90 points to 13,111 while the S&P futures were off 11 points to 1,414. The Nasdaq futures were lower by 17 points to 2,659. Futures had doubled their losses in an hour as Obama started to close the gap.
At 11:00pm, Obama took the lead 238-191 and we realized Romney could lose the race although Virginia and Florida were still in play. Still, it felt like the Romney bus was warming up to get out of Dodge. Dow futures were down 83; S&P futures were off 11 while the Nasdaq futures were declining 16 points and were off their lows.
At 11:18pm CNN put the nail in Romney’s Presidential coffin and predicted an Obama win. Dow futures were lower by 46 points; S&P 500 futures were off 6 points and the Nasdaq futures were down 7 points. We were deflated as we are sure Mitt Romney was as well.
Shortly before 1am this morning, Mitt called Barrack to concede. Done deal. Put the baby to bed. Close, but no cigar. Better luck next time.
Well, we had a higher employment rate and a swelled national debt that Obama promised to reduce on both fronts 4 years ago. Get ready for higher taxes across the board and even higher unemployment as businesses look to get around ObamaCare by offering part-time work and no health insurance because ObamaCare will cost companies more money. We won’t know if Romney was the answer and we could care less what side runs the White House but all of America will be watching how the next 4 years go down.
We are done writing about politics, hopefully, for another 4 years but we will take jabs at the zombies when we can. We would much rather talk stock and options instead of Republicans and Democrats.
Our title for this morning should have read Obama Wins Second-Term (or, 4 More Beers!) and all joking aside, we wish him well. Maybe he is the answer and we shall soon see as the next challenge will be the pending Fiscal Cliff. Deadline December 31, 2012.
The good news is the uncertainty of the election has been lifted from the market and we can get back to doing what we do best. We could get a clear trend over the next few weeks and we have a few more November plays to wrap up but we will be ready to play the breakout or breakdown that is coming.
Futures are showing a nasty open and look like this: Dow (-112); S&P 500 (-10); Nasdaq (-11). Subscribers, check the Members Area for the updates.